Iran has abolished the country’s morality police, AFP reported quoting the prosecutor general. This comes as protests have raged across Iran prompting confrontations between demonstrators and security forces for more than two months of protests triggered by the arrest of Mahsa Amini for allegedly violating the country's strict female dress code.
Read more: Explained: Iran's morality police, hijab and violent protests over woman's death
"Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary" and have been abolished, Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
The attorney general commented at a religious conference where he responded to a participant who asked "why the morality police were being shut down", the report said.
The morality police- known as the Gasht-e Ershad or "Guidance Patrol"- were established under president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to "spread the culture of modesty and hijab". The units began patrols in 2006.
The announcement of their abolition came a day after Jafar Montazeri said that "both parliament and the judiciary are working (on the issue)" of whether the law requiring women to cover their heads needs to be changed.